UN Anti-Piracy Force

Following yesterday’s post on private security forces, the maritime shipping industry has urged the UN to create a peace-keeping operation to protect international waters.  In a letter to the UN Secretary General, the shipping companies assert:

“We believe that an important element in this approach would be the establishment of a U.N. force of armed military guards that can be deployed in small numbers onboard merchant ships.”

“This would be an innovative force in terms of U.N. peacekeeping activity but it would do much to stabilise the situation, to restrict the growth of unregulated, privately contracted armed security personnel and to allow those U.N. member states lacking maritime forces … to make a meaningful contribution in the area of counter-piracy,” they said.

Considering budget constraints at the UN, in particular within peacekeeping operations, it is unclear how such a project would be funded. But it might be a way of limiting legal liability of shippers who are currently hiring PMSCs.